The silence of the sirens

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The Silence of the Sirens is a prose work of Franz Kafka , created in 1917. The first publication was made in 1931. It is an ironic dismantling an educational myth, namely the Twelfth song from the Odyssey of Homer .

Preliminary remark

The original version The Odyssey of Odysseus reports, among other things, how Odysseus and his men protect themselves from the lure of the sirens by stuffing wax into the ears of the men and chaining Odysseus, who wants to hear the siren singing, to the mast. With Kafka, the old formulations are changed in that Odysseus tries out both means of protection on himself, there are no comrades-in-arms here. In addition, the silence of the sirens is introduced as a new decisive moment. The originally untitled text was created in 1917 and was edited by Max Brod from the estate and entitled “The Silence of the Sirens”.

content

The introductory sentence is:

"Proof of the fact that inadequate, even childish means can serve for salvation."

The means of ear plugging and tying, which Odysseus chooses, are judged by the anonymous narrator to be completely ineffective. However, Odysseus did not think about that and he drove with innocent joy over his medication to meet the sirens. The even more terrible weapon than the song, however, is the silence of the sirens, and indeed they were silent when Odysseus came. He now thought of his means of wax and chains and thought that they would protect him from the singing. He passed the Sirens' waters unscathed and clear. The resulting “feeling of having defeated them by one's own strength”, however, has far worse consequences than the destruction; it leads to “all-rousing arrogance” which nothing earthly can withstand. Conversely, Odysseus also becomes an object of temptation for the sirens themselves, although they use silence as an even more terrible weapon than singing. A surviving appendix to the story says that Odysseus was very aware that the sirens were silent, but that he was able to hide this with cunning.

Text analysis

The narrator looks at Odysseus with a certain skepticism and condescension; in his estimation, he uses "childish" remedies to save himself from the power of the sirens. Odysseus, however, is characterized by a special self-assurance. He believes in his means and does not let himself be unsettled by hearsay of horror, rather “the sight of bliss” shows on his face. He is the naive hero who calmly ignores the danger that threatens him. But in contrast to the idea of ​​Odysseus, the cunning man, Kafka's Odysseus is a fool. He reinterprets the evil weapon of silence as a siren in his special protection due to his "little means". In this way he distances himself spatially and inwardly from the sirens, the original objects of his desire. And so the direction of desire changes. The sirens are now those who “only want to catch the gleam of Odysseus' large pair of eyes”. So the proof is provided according to the opening sentence: the remedies saved.

The surviving appendix says, however, that Odysseus was so cunning that “even the goddess of fate could not penetrate into his innermost being” and that he “only held the above apparent process as a kind of shield against the gods”. However, this would actually be a procedure in the manner of Odysseus as we know him, and certainly not a childish means, but a clever staging and deception.

Biographical references

With the choice of Odysseus and this variant, Kafka is entering a terrain that he has seldom explored by telling the story of a successful protagonist. This protagonist is apparently naively self-confident, he does not doubt or hesitates, but believes in himself. In the case of the second conceivable variant with the deception, he is of course completely unchallenged and superhuman. This victoriousness is not the world of thought in which Kafka himself and his characters normally live.

The seductive singing of the female creatures, which represent the irresistible other, can be interpreted as the endangerment for Kafka and his writing by the woman herself.

reception

Reiner Stach ( Kafka. The early years , p. 146): “The Silence of the Sirens, Poseidon , Prometheus , The New Advocate : In none of these parable-like pieces does Kafka show any interest in the history of ideas in his characters, rather he uses the prominence of their names to expose them to the neon light of modernity with the greatest possible effect. "

Text output

Audiobook

Secondary literature

Web links

Wikisource: The Silence of the Sirens  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reiner Stach: Kafka: The years of knowledge . S. Fischer, ISBN 978-3-10-075119-5 , p. 252
  2. ↑ DNB: Franz Kafka: "The Silence of the Sirens"
  3. ^ Peter-André Alt: Franz Kafka: The Eternal Son. A biography. CH Beck, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-53441-4 , p. 574
  4. ^ A b Hans Dieter Zimmermann: Kafka for advanced students . CH Beck, 2004, ISBN 3-406-51083-3 , p. 178
  5. ↑ Bettina von Jagow, Oliver Jahraus (ed.): Kafka Handbook Life – Work – Effect . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008, ISBN 978-3-525-20852-6 , p. 67 Vivian Liska